Goes to Seed
"Goes To Seed" is the eleventh episode of season one of the animated children's series The Magic School Bus. It originally aired on November 20th, 1994. Plot The class is planting a garden and will be featured on the cover of Plant It! magazine. All but Phoebe have full plots. Carlos gets angry that she only has a drawing of a plant, and she explains she has one at her old school and her letters to her former teacher, Mr. Seedplot, asking for her plant have gone unanswered. Ms. Frizzle overhears the class' conversation and takes them to Phoebe's old school in order to get her flower, for she states, "If the plant won't come to you, go to the plant", much to Phoebe's dismay. All the while, Phoebe fears Mr. Seedplot will see them and take this very badly. An impatient Carlos asks Ms. Frizzle if the class could fly to the school, prompting Ms. Frizzle to transform The Magic School Bus into a ladybug. The ladybug bus flies to Phoebe's old school (funny since it's the name of the school) and through the garden to locate her plant. The Magic School Ladybird lands on the petal of a flower and inside the center of it. Phoebe suggests that the class should stay in the flower and inside The Magic School Ladybird to avoid imminent embarrassment, but Ms. Frizzle escorts the class out of the bus anyway, much to Phoebe's dismay. The class slide down The Magic School Ladybird, and Phoebe is little more than apprehensive about this. Liz offers her a beekeeper hat so Mr. Seedplot won't recognize her, and Phoebe follows along with the rest of the class. She then takes off the hat after Wanda laughs and says, "Hey, Phoebe! Nice disguise!" As the class play in the liquid, a proboscis of a bee sucks in some of it from the flower. Ms. Frizzle explains that every bee has a proboscis. Dorothy Ann informs that the liquid the class is stuck in is called nectar. In order to get more bees to drink the nectar to get The Bus out of it, Phoebe shows the class a picture of the flower and tells them that the lines of the flower are pointing towards the pool of nectar in the flower. Carlos finally comes to a conclusion and states that if there were more lines, more bugs would suck up the nectar. Liz hops inside the bus and pulls the lever to send lines out through the roof and around the flower. This attracts more bees, who use their proboscis to suck up the nectar right after the class enter The Magic School Ladybird. Once the nectar has been sucked out of the flower, Ms. Frizzle drives the ladybug bus up the stem and Phoebe is still panicking over being obtrusive to Mr. Seedplot's view. Little does Phoebe know, Mr. Seedplot reads Phoebe's note and begins looking for her plant. Meanwhile, the bus continues crawling up the stem of the flower until it rests on top of an anther, which is made of pollen, which Arnold is allergic to. Just then, the bees fly around the pollen and cause the anther the bus is resting on top of to shake. When Phoebe uses Liz' binoculars to find that Mr. Seedplot is at the garden, she asks Ms. Frizzle if the class can shrink even smaller, which Ms. Frizzle does in deference. Mr. Seedplot notices and is convinced that he discovered the "vanishing ladybug." The bus gets carried away along with the pollen on the bee's leg and flies to Phoebe's flower, dropping the bus on it in the process. Keesha then learns that the insects bring pollen from one flower to another and Carlos asks what that has to do with getting Phoebe's plant back from one school to another. Ms. Frizzle answers that question by exiting the bus and exploring around the flower. Arnold's big sneeze propels the class out of the bus and they realize that they are at the top of the female part of the flower. Arnold sneezes again and falls through a tube of a pollen inside the flower. When Phoebe notices Mr. Seedplot's shadow, she follows along with Arnold and slides down the tube as well. The class follow suit and Phoebe meets up with Arnold to tell him that they are deep into the bottom of the flower. The class then notice a green ball inflating and find that there are more around the inside of the flower. When Ms. Frizzle states that the green ball is a "plant waiting to happen." Phoebe then learns that the green ball growing is a seed, and that her plant is making more seeds. The class then learn that the pollen the bees brought to the flower grow tubes down to the eggs and together, they make seeds. Carlos and Phoebe carry a seed to the bus to plant it in the garden of the class' school and Carlos tells Phoebe that there is only five minutes left. The hop onto the bus, which flies on top of the growing seed and sprouts a flower. The bus is blown away through the wind, taking a ride on the seed. Phoebe then notices Mr. Seedplot riding a bicycle with Phoebe's plant in the basket, and Phoebe starts to panic. To her horror, the tiny bus lands directly onto Mr. Seedplot's head. As Mr. Seedplot gets closer to the school, Phoebe calls for Mr. Seedplot, which prompts the teacher to stop his bike. While trying to figure out who called him, he sweeps the bus (which he is oblivious to) off his forehead, sending the bus flying to the class' garden. Carlos panics when he sees that the photographer has already arrived. As the bus lands onto the soil, Ms. Frizzle uses the bus to bury the seed, water it, shine it with light, and speed up time to make the plant grow faster. As the plant finally grows, Mr. Seedplot arrives just in time and an embarrassed Phoebe cajoles Ms. Frizzle to shrink the bus again. The class finally surmise that Phoebe is embarrassed by Ms. Frizzle and they convince her all the things the teacher has done for the class. Phoebe soon realizes that she has no reason to be. As the class return to their normal size right in front of Mr. Seedplot, Phoebe proudly introduces her to Mr. Seedplot, only to find out that they're old friends and that Mr. Seedplot's first name is Archibald. Ms. Frizzle then states, "The magic is in the garden," and the class finally get their picture taken, with the picture ending up on the front of the magazine. Gallery File:Goes_to_Seed_(1).jpg File:Goes_to_Seed_(2).jpg Goes to Seed.jpg|Dorothy Ann's first skirt peek Trivia *Instead of the producer answering the phone, it's Archibald Seedplot. It's implied he has strong feelings for Ms. Frizzle. *Carlos showed his bossy side for the first time. *The name of Phoebe's old school is revealed to be "Phoebe's Old School". *The TV tie-in book was called "Plants Seeds." *"Gets Planted" and this episode are the only ones focusing on plants and both of them focus on Phoebe. *Robby Benson, the voice of Mr. Seedplot, is also the voice of The Beast in the 1991 Disney film Beauty and the Beast which was released 3 years before this episode's air date. *It is revealed in the Producer's Segment that Ms. Frizzle's first name is Valerie. *This episode reveals that Arnold is allergic to pollen, thus making him sneeze. *When Keesha says "Pollen tube reached it.", Wanda's mouth moves. *Mr. Seedplot sings the song "Bicycle Built for Two" while riding his bicycle to Walkerville Elementary School. *During Phoebe's fantasy of meeting Mr. Seedplot, Ms. Frizzle's head for the Magic School Bus is similar to Bertie the Bus on Thomas & Friends. Watch Episode Category:Episodes Category:Episodes focusing on Phoebe Category:Episodes focusing on Carlos Category:Episodes focusing on Ms. Frizzle Category:Season 1 episodes Category:Life Science Episodes Category:Episodes on Plants Category:Episodes with Guest Stars Category:Episodes on Reproduction Category:Episodes where the bus is shrinking